Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes his penalty options are unparalleled in world football despite seeing Bruno Fernandes blaze over the crossbar against Aston Villa.
United were awarded a stoppage-time penalty to rescue a point against Villa, but Fernandes took the spot-kick ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and could only find the Stretford End.
Fernandes has scored 21 of his previous 22 penalties for United and has established a reputation as a reliable penalty taker since arriving at Old Trafford, but Ronaldo has been the penalty taker for Real Madrid and Juventus and had been expected to resume duties at United since returning to the club.
But when United were finally given a chance from 12 yards it was Fernandes who maintained duties, a decision Solskjaer said was made before the match. Just minutes after Kortney Hause had given Villa the lead Fernandes missed the penalty and Ronaldo was the first player down the tunnel at the final whistle.
"Bruno has been excellent and Cristiano is probably the one who has scored the most penalties in world football. It is just a missed opportunity to get a point," said Solskjaer.
"You will be making all these assumptions on the reactions of players. Bruno is such a good penalty taker and you would back him with your mortgage. What I don’t like is how they [Villa players] crowded the referee and the penalty spot. They got what they wanted."
Fernandes had been almost faultless from the spot for United since joining from Sporting Lisbon in January 2020 and Solskjaer has backed him to step up again despite his miss, although Ronaldo is probably going to expect a greater say the next time United get a penalty.
"That is football, he will step forward every day of the week for the club and the team and sometimes it just doesn’t go your way, that is part and parcel of what we are doing. It is such a fine line between heaven and hell," he said.
